‘PH-Kuwait ties going in positive direction’
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano claimed the relationship of the Philippines with Kuwait was moving in a “positive direction,” amid a diplomatic tiff between the two countries resulting from the Philippines’ alleged breach of international rules when its officials rescued distressed Filipinos in the Gulf state.
Proof of this, Cayetano pointed out, was the return of 61 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Kuwait on Saturday night, the first batch of Filipinos to return home even after the amnesty period ended on April 22.
Aboard flight PR 669 that arrived in Manila at 10:40 p.m., the returning OFWs were welcomed by Cayetano, Assistant Communications Secretary Mocha Uson and personnel of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
700 more waiting
Cayetano said around 700 OFWs at the embassy shelter were still waiting to be sent home in the next few weeks. An additional 120 Filipinos had also requested for assistance.
Despite the diplomatic standoff with Kuwait, Cayetano assured that the Filipinos’ safety was “prioritized.”
“We can repair our relationship with other countries. But we can’t go back in time to save a Filipino who was killed or raped,” he told the returning OFWs.
Cayetano noted that the “assistance” given to the OFWs “properly followed protocols” as “not to offend and there will be no ill-feeling” on the part of the Kuwaiti government.
The foreign secretary said the Philippine Embassy was coordinating with the Kuwaiti foreign ministry and the police extended help for OFWs who need assistance in “special cases.”
Diplomatic protest
“I can say that it is moving in positive direction,” Cayetano told reporters about the talks on the mending of bilateral relations between the two countries.
Kuwait lodged a protest against the Philippines for violation of diplomatic protocols after a video released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed Philippine Embassy officials rescuing allegedly abused Filipino domestic helpers from their employers’ homes.
This led to the Kuwaiti government expelling Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa and recalling its envoy, Ambassador Musaed Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh.
Four Filipinos who were hired as drivers were arrested, while three of Manila’s diplomats were facing charges of kidnapping for the supposed
rescue mission.
MOU
The DFA admitted Filipino diplomatic staff were holed up inside the embassy in Kuwait, but assured “they are all doing well.”
Asked on the status of the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU), which aims for a better treatment of OFWs in Kuwait, Cayetano answered: “We are moving forward, but we are doing it in private.”
President Rodrigo Duterte had set the MOU with Kuwait as a condition to lift its deployment ban on Filipino workers. The President ordered the ban in February after authorities found Filipino maid Joanna Demafelis dead in a freezer in Kuwait. —DEXTER CABALZA
